esteban's Profile

I know what your talking about! I just watched the show with tyler going to Italy and getting these smoked tomatoes in bunches. they used them to make a pizza. the smoked tomatoes I have found with my searches are sundried, the tomatoes we want are not, they are whole tomatoes tied together in a bunch, looks like red grapes except bigger. i want to find them too. help someone,

no meters, but sunday morning is generally a pretty good time to find spots--look on 79th and 80th. i'd recommend getting there before 10, both for parking and to be sure that they aren't sold out--it was very crowded at 8:15 this morning...

went to pequena colombia--the renovation is done, but they have not yet had the official grand opening. i'm going to blame that for one of the really negative (not bad, really, but negative) experiences i've had recently. we got to the restaurant at about 7:15 on sunday, and waited about 5-10 minutes for a table--no big deal. they immediately put a plate of mixed fried stuff (lots) on the table--plantains, chicharrones, yuca, potatoes, chorizo--nice. i should note that we had three kids under 10 with us. then the wait began. we did not get our food until about 9:15. they were not very apologetic until the end of the night--when our food finally arrived (and we had at least begged them to bring the kid's food asap--this arrived at about 9), they comped us some drinks (soft for the underage, sangria for the aged...). this was nice, but i'd have preferred my meal. it was also very hot out side, and VERY hot inside--there were fans everywhere, but the newly installed a/c clearly could not keep up. that said, the food was all very good (even my son's kid's meal was a cut above the norm) and i'll go back--but earlier in the evening, and after they have gotten a handle on the additional burden placed by the renovation...

you can bring in what they refer to as a "reasonable amount of food." i assume that is to be sure that people aren't going to resell. in short, you can bring in stuff for yourself, including drinks, so long as you have no coolers and no glass or metal containers. sandwich, soda and chips in a plastic bag is more than fine.

leo's was closed at about 6 on tuesday night when i went by intending to do just that...got sandwiches from the italian deli between where corona heights pork store used to be and the lemon ice king. ok, but it was not mama's special...

i work in riverdale and have the opportunity to get it with some frequency. it is nearly always good, though i'd be lying if i did not mention that on extremely rare occasions it can be a touch dry. for the most part, though, it is excellent--moist, not too sweet, with very sweet and tasty cream cheese frosting. available both with and without nuts and raisins...

yup--it seems to be moving forward in the site that was a cingular store--they'd had a sing in the window but it is gone--the one above the store remains, however. for some reason, they dropped the "t" in yogurt, leaving them with yogurberry--that's how you can find them on the web @ yogurberry.com

she was not out today--and apparently she does not stock many chile flavored items, as they don't sell particularly well. she does, i am told, have mango-chile, which i was hoping to try today, but no dice. on another note, delicias isabel did not have pupusas today--i think that is a weekend-only specialty, as she said that she would have them tomorrow...

with the wave of burger places opening up around the city, has the upper east side been left entirely untouched? i am supposed to meet a friend for dinner tonight, we were originally going to go to brgr but for various reasons need to stay on the ues. is there any place worth trying? not jackson hole, please, but something more in the brgr, shake shack, burger joint, or even corner bistro continuum.thanks.

try jardi on northern blvd between 86th and 87th streets. the menu is all tapas, both cold and hot. they get all of their provisions from d'espana importers, which is virtually next door. a fair number of wines by the glass (ok, nothing overwhelming) and beer. each tapa is perhaps a little more than it should be (both in terms of price and amount of food--which limits the number of different things one can order), but on the whole i quite liked the place and would go back again for a drink and some serrano ham or other spanish treat...

in the past few weeks i've been buying yogurt at the new health food store, and they do, in fact, have both the brown cow low fat and non fat. the issue with this place, at least as they start to figure out the demand, is in restocking...they probably just sold out but haven't been able to keep up..

yes--it is sort of expensive, in the great tradition of natural/health food stores, but at the moment nearly everything in the store seems to be roughly 20% off

as to the ice situation--this was a problem in the stores previous incarnation. i think that you are right about the defrosting and refreezing. while it was the only place around that stocked van's frozen waffles (which my kids love for breakfast). i stopped buying them because they were icy and got soggy in the toaster. pretty nasty--i get 'em when i get to fairway now. my hope is that there will be both better refrigeration and more turnover in the new place, so that we can trust the frozen stuff a bit more.

i'll be in harrisburg for a marathon next weekend and am looking for a good place for a pre-marathon dinner. i'll be with my family, which includes kids aged 5 and 8, and we are staying at the crowne plaza downtown. nearby and lots of complex carbs preferred. a good italian place that might make some sort of pizza margharita for the kids would work. make my trip from queens worthwhile.thanks

i've been meaning to post this for a while, but after my initial post, i decided to take the plunge last friday night at chilli chicken. got delivery (DELIVERY!!) from them, it was less than 1/2 hour from call to buzzer--pretty good. i want to say that the food was pretty good, too. i asked for everything spicy, and they complied. i was also ordering without a menu, so the man on the phone was very helpful matching what i wanted with what was on the menu (which is MUCH smaller than places like tangra). got chicken lollypops--good, these came wet, which i was not expecting, so they were even messier than usual, but spicy and tasty. i might ask for them dry next time--then my son might eat them. also got the chilli paneer app--tasty, spicy, with lots of onions and peppers and a thinner, oily (not bad oily) sauce. then had manchurian veg (kofta balls) which was pretty good. i liked the kofta better than my wife, but the sauce was fine, and went a long way with the rice. finally, got chilli-garlic noodles, which were quite good. not too greasy, very peppery (black pepper, i think) and they disappeared fast. in any case, it was all eaten, and was quite satisfying. i am having some trouble comparing it to meals at tangra masala in the past, but i thought that it was really pretty darn good, and the delivery option helps immeasurably. i'll be back.

there was a positive mention of this (new) place (on roosevelt between 73rd and b'way) in this week's time out new york. has anyone been? i've only been by in the am when the gate is down so i have no impression--but the grand opening sign is up. there is also a new afghan place going in next door...and a new pho place around the corner on 73rd...

I have lots of potatoes from my CSA, and was trying to decide what to make, at which point it occurred to me that it was perfectly reasonable to serve pasta salad or rice salad as an entree, but i was far less certain about potato salad. It just seemed less...well...normal. First, why is this--becuase there is rarely protien added to potato salad? Second, does anyone have any good ideas about entree-style potato salads? i also have lots of basil from the CSA as well, if that helps.all help is appreciated. thanks

amy's bread, by amy scherber (of amy's bread in nyc). clear, detailed, but not at all too complex--lots of different types of recipes, and the use of the autolyse process to aid the kneading and development of the dough. a great, great book.